Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




NUKEWARS
Army closes in on killer S. Korean conscript
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) June 23, 2014


S. Korea military says conscript captured after wounding self
Seoul (AFP) June 23, 2014 - A South Korean military conscript who killed five members of his unit was captured Monday after shooting himself in the side following a tense 24-hour standoff, the defence ministry said.

"He shot himself in the side and we have captured him alive," a ministry spokesman told AFP, adding that the 22-year-old sergeant had been taken to hospital.

Thousands of soldiers backed by special forces units and army helicopters had surrounded the conscript, identified by his family name Lim, after he was tracked down Sunday afternoon to a forested area south of the heavily militarised frontier with North Korea.

Armed with a K-2 assault rifle and a stash of ammunition, Lim went on the run Saturday night after killing five fellow soldiers at a frontline border outpost.

Prior to turning his gun on himself, Lim had spoken via a mobile phone with his parents who had urged him to surrender.

S. Korea allows North fisherman to defect
Seoul (AFP) June 23, 2014 - South Korea said Monday it had granted a defection request from a North Korean fisherman rescued a week ago by the coastguard, in a move guaranteed to anger Pyongyang.

The Unification Ministry said the fisherman had been rescued June 16 while drifting in a damaged squid boat in South Korean waters.

"He said he had no intention to return to North Korea," ministry spokesman Kim Eui-Do said, underlining Seoul's policy of only repatriating those fishermen who ask to be sent home.

It's the latest in a series of cases involving rescued North Korean fisherman which have triggered angry exchanges between Seoul and Pyongyang.

North Korea insists that all fishermen picked up by the South should be returned along with their vessels.

Five fishermen who opted to return were repatriated a week ago at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

Hundreds of North Koreans flee their isolated homeland each year.

Most cross into China and then to a third country such as Thailand before coming to the South. Intentional defections across the sea or land border between the two Koreas are rare.

South Korean troops closed in Monday on a cornered fugitive conscript whose parents urged him to surrender after he killed five fellow soldiers in a shooting spree on the border with North Korea.

Thousands of soldiers backed by special forces units and army helicopters were surrounding the 22-year-old sergeant after a night-long standoff in a small forested area south of the heavily militarised frontier.

"We are closing in on him and he was close enough to be able to pick up a cell phone we threw," defence ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok told a briefing.

Kim said the sergeant, identified by his family name Lim, had spoken to his father who had urged his son to give himself up.

An army officer who requested anonymity told Yonhap news agency that Lim had been in tears when he asked troops to hand the phone over to his father. "He talked to his parents for several minutes, and they pleaded with him to surrender," the officer was quoted as saying.

Lim, who had not eaten for two days, was also thrown some bread and water.

Armed with a K-2 assault rifle and a stash of ammunition, Lim went on the run Saturday night after killing five fellow soldiers at a frontline border outpost.

He traded fire with his pursuers late Sunday before digging in for the night in a section of forest outside a village some 10 kilometres (six miles) away.

Kim said there were further sporadic exchanges of fire during the night, and Lim was still considered extremely dangerous.

"We don't plan to immediately move to capture him because we don't want to trigger any extreme behaviour," he said.

"We are encouraging him to surrender," he added.

Seven others were wounded in Lim's shooting spree on Saturday, during which he detonated a grenade and fired multiple rounds.

Lim was due to be discharged in the next few months after completing his compulsory military service.

The motive behind the shooting was unclear, but army sources said he had difficulty adapting to the military, and psychological evaluators had advised senior officers to pay him special attention.

The incident triggered a massive military manhunt involving more than 4,000 soldiers, including special forces backed by army helicopters.

After a night on the run, Lim was finally cornered near Myungpa-ri village in eastern Gangwon province.

In the initial exchanges of fire one platoon leader was wounded in the arm, and Kim said another soldier was wounded Monday by friendly fire.

Around 500 residents, most of them elderly, were evacuated from their homes to a school building as a precaution.

- Bullying in the barracks -

Lim's deadly shooting spree occurred at a guard post next to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) -- a buffer strip that runs the full length of the 250-kilometre (155-mile) inter-Korean frontier.

Because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas technically remain at war.

Many of the South Korean soldiers on border duty are young male recruits doing their mandatory two-year military service.

These young men make up a large part of the South's 691,000-strong troop presence, compared with 1.17 million in the North.

Most of the victims in Saturday's shooting were conscripts, aged from 19 to 23.

The defence ministry issued a "sincere apology" over the incident.

"We pray for the souls of the victims and express our deepest regret for the victims, the injured and their families," it said.

Bullying and cruelty in the barracks have long tarnished the armed forces, and been blamed for suicides and similar shooting incidents.

In July 2011, a 19-year-old marine conscript killed four colleagues in a shooting spree on Ganghwa island near the border.

In June 2005, eight soldiers were killed and two seriously wounded when a 22-year-old conscript threw a grenade and sprayed bullets over sleeping colleagues at a frontline guard post north of Seoul.

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
Standoff with S. Korean soldier who killed five comrades
Seoul (AFP) June 22, 2014
South Korean troops traded fire in a standoff Sunday with a cornered conscript soldier who went on the run after shooting dead five members of his unit on the border with North Korea. The 23-year-old army sergeant, surnamed Lim, had opened fire on fellow soldiers at a guard post on the eastern section of the heavily guarded frontier Saturday night. The shooting spree left five dead and s ... read more


NUKEWARS
3D Printers for Home-Use to Generate Hardware and Material Spending

A breakthrough in creating invisibility cloaks, stealth technology

Oracle adds Micros for $5.3 bn to boost cloud effort

Crowdsourcing the phase problem

NUKEWARS
Exelis enhancing communications for NATO country

Chemring integrates new system with Resolve

Northrop Grumman Receives Funding for Electronic Warfare Systems for US Army and Navy

UK Connects with Allied Protected Communication Satellites

NUKEWARS
Arianespace A World Leader In The Satellite Launch Market

Airbus Group and Safran To Join Forces in Launcher Activities

European satellite chief says industry faces challenges

Payload fueling begins for nexy Arianespace Soyuz flight

NUKEWARS
Soyuz Rocket puts Russian GLONASS-M navigation satellite into orbit

Russia may join forces with China to compete with US, European satnavs

Russia Says GLONASS Accuracy Could Be Boosted to Two Feet

Northrop Grumman tapped for new miniature navigation system

NUKEWARS
Airbags Take the Weight in ACTE G-III Loads Tests

Boeing signs agreements to broaden maintenance services

Singapore tourism hit by MH370 mystery, Thai crisis

China's plane demand surges but bumpy ride ahead

NUKEWARS
Quantum computation: Fragile yet error-free

Chemical Sensor on a Chip

Contextuality puts the 'magic' in quantum computing

Researchers find weird magic ingredient for quantum computing

NUKEWARS
Far more accurate satellite images on the way as US lifts restrictions

Monitoring climate change from space

China put FY-3C into operation to improve earth observation

SpyMeSat Mobile App Now Offers High Resolution Satellite Imagery

NUKEWARS
Malaysian police detain Australian activist

Greenpeace left red-faced after top official travel expose

Plastic tide 'causing $13 bn in damage', UN says

Chemical pollution of European waters is stronger than anticipated




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.